


Diamond In The Rough

by brokenhighways



Series: Diamond On A Landmine [2]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternative Universe - FBI, Art, Crimes & Criminals, Diamonds, M/M, Theft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 01:45:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5111771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenhighways/pseuds/brokenhighways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are three balled up invites on Jensen's desk. There's a case file with the picture of a man that Jensen's supposed to be gathering intel on, as well as a list of things the mother of his child wants him to pick up for their son's birthday. The first thing shouldn't be an issue. The second one, while important, isn't really his problem; he's just the FBI's bitch for the foreseeable future. The last one should be at the forefront of his mind but it isn't. Tyler is about to have his birthday and all Jensen can think about is whether or not he should invite Jared. Jared, who he's seen only a handful of times since that night in his apartment when he told Jared nothing was going to happen between them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Diamond In The Rough

**Author's Note:**

> **Thank you to kalypsobean/raise_the_knife for looking it over!**
> 
>  
> 
> Timestamp for Diamond On A Landmine (my big bang).

 

There are three balled up invites on Jensen's desk. There's a case file with the picture of a man that Jensen's supposed to be gathering intel on, as well as a list of things the mother of his child wants him to pick up for their son's birthday. The first thing shouldn't be an issue. The second one, while important, isn't really his problem; he's just the FBI's bitch for the foreseeable future. The last one should be at the forefront of his mind but it isn't. Tyler is about to have his birthday and all Jensen can think about is whether or not he should invite Jared. Jared, who he's seen only a handful of times since that night in his apartment when he told Jared nothing was going to happen between them. In hindsight, Jared should not have been allowed the time to even get to that stage. Yeah, they love each other. And yeah, they both did some messed up things but wounds need time to heal and although he didn't know it then _he_ actually needed to forgive for once.

Jensen's never forgiven a single person in his life. He's never really needed to. His mom didn't count; years of cleaning up after her were just what any good son would do. His dad was just an idiot who got caught. Chris was the well-meaning, but cold, business partner who was always there. Lauren was the wife he never truly loved. And Jared, well Jared was his best friend. The guy who would have his back no matter what.

Forgiveness wasn't even a question.

Except it was.

It _is_.

That's what he thought up until the argument with his mom. It was stupid little things at first. He wasn't feeding Tyler correctly, wasn't doing anything right, and things would be so much better if he and Lauren got back together. Where was that nice young man, Jared? The hard working responsible one to teach Jensen a thing or two. She went on and on until he snapped and told her everything. That she raised a son who was only good at hurting other people, the way she hurt him. That he didn't have anyone in his corner on account of all the stupid shit he's done over the years.

As usual, she wasn't on his side. Jensen snorts just thinking about it. The reason why he starting scamming people in the first place was too put food on the table. To keep a roof over their heads while she was drinking herself silly. To this day, he's never regretted doing it. His dad was gone and it was his job. That she's never acknowledged what he did has never bothered him. Maybe that's an issue and maybe he's supposed to _feel_ something. And he doesn't. At least not over that. There’s just a numbness that he’s gotten comfortable with other the years.

"What are you going to do to make it right?" That's what she says to him. It's not like it isn't a valid question but she's his _mom_. She's not supposed to be so cold and detached. Cold and detached. The former is something he's familiar with, the latter is something he's keen to avoid. He doesn't want to be like her. He doesn't want to be a person that everybody hates. And it hits him then that she's never going to give him that nurturing love that he needs. She's never going to hold him and tell him that everything's okay.

She's not the right person to help him through all of this bullshit.

So, as things stand, the only people Jensen has in his life at the moment are his baby son (who's too young to understand a single iota of what he's going through) and Danneel, on account of the fact that he has to work for her in order to avoid prison.

Things with Lauren flip flop on a day to day basis but they manage to keep it civil for Tyler's sake. He can't really talk to her about the mess he's made of his life. And while he has a good enough relationship with Katie and Aldis, he's understandably wary of getting close enough to people that can hurt him later on.

So that leaves Jared.

They haven't had a proper conversation since Jensen turned him down in his apartment. Haven't exchanged so much as a phone call. Jensen stays away from the gallery and Jared stays away from him. On one hand, Jensen's been glad for the space; on the other, it kind of bothers him that past a handful of moments at the gallery, Jared's made no real effort to see him. To mend their friendship. He doesn't want to be the one to break first. He wants Jared to come and see him. He wants...a lot of things and for the first time in years, he can't just make it happen.

There's just too much at stake.

~

In an ironic fashion, Jared does come to Jensen first. He's just finished another gruelling day with the FBI. His job as an informant isn't too many levels away from being a rat so he forces himself not to enjoy it. In some ways, it would almost be cruel of him. He, of all people, knows why others turn to crime. Some are just crooks but...some genuinely don't have a choice.  


He's just about to clock out (apparently it's a necessity if he wants his hours to be reflected on the record) and make his way home when, Holly, the girl from reception, shows up in front of his little corner. It's quite pathetic really. He doesn’t even have own extension line, hell, he barely has a _functional_ desk _._  


"You've got a visitor," she says, voice dripping with annoyance. He doesn't blame her. Working for the FBI seems like it's soul-destroying. Which is why he look at is as more of a sentence than a job. "Should I send him up here or let him wait in the lobby?" Jensen's grabs his cell and jacket and leaves his seat.  


"Lobby," he tells her. "I was just leaving anyway. Thanks." She gives him a curt nod and heads toward the elevator.  


By the time Jensen makes it down to the lobby, he hasn't even stopped to consider who his mystery visitor is. There aren't many people who would call for him in this place. None of his criminal buddies want anything to do with him now that he works for the Feds. He's lucky to get a text back let alone face to face contact. Everyone else knows not to come here. He's stressed that several times.  


Except for Jared who he hasn’t spoken to.  


He's sitting on one of the crappy, hard plastic chairs with his head bowed down. There's a quiet tap-tap-tap sound from where his leg is jiggling up and down and Jensen laughs to himself. Some things never change.

“You might want to pay your doctor a visit,” he says as he approaches his former best friend. “Restless Leg Syndrome is a thing now.” Jared’s head jerks up comically and his eyes widen in surprise when he sees him. There’s a long moment where they both stare at one another, silence permeating the space between them. Jensen tries to tell himself that this is just like any other time but the lie falls flat.

It’s not like any other time because all it takes is one look for him to know that he’s not over Jared.

After all that he's told himself, this is a bitter pill to swallow. Everything that forced him to rip up his not-so-perfect life with Lauren still burns bright and strong in his heart. He still longs for the one person that he never thought would betray him. It's not really surprising, given that he spent a very long ten years falling in love with Jared in the first place.

"Hey," Jared says slowly as he rises from the plastic bench. "Sorry to just pop in like this, but I wanted to give you this. For Tyler's birthday." He hands over a neatly wrapped package, flinching when their fingers brush against each other. Jensen's not sure if it's the flinch or the way Jared can barely look him in the eye but he can't help saying, "You could have called?"

Jared frowns and actually looks him in the eye this time. "You changed your number." The realisation hits Jensen a like a bucket of ice water to the face. Jared's not wrong, and Jensen didn't want to risk contacting him back then when everything was too raw and he hadn't processed all that happened. "I just assumed that we were done. That our friendship was over."

"So why are you here now?" he asks, brandishing the gift. "It can't be just for this."

"We might not be friends, but I wouldn't miss acknowledging your son's birthday," Jared replies defiantly. He's different, Jensen realises. There's a harder edge to him that wasn't there before and suddenly Jensen hates that he's missed out on so much. It doesn't escape him that Jared didn't answer his question.

"Were you here to see Danneel?" Jared's rigid posture gives him away and Jensen takes a step back. He's not going to do this. The paranoia, never ending circle of distrust. He's too fucking tired from the last time.

"I can't say," Jared says. His voice is strained but his eyes are full of genuine remorse. "But if I could, I'd tell you that it doesn't have anything to do with you."

That sounds pretty fucking ominous to Jensen.

"And I guess I'm just supposed to believe that, huh?" he retorts angrily. "It's pretty damn convenient." Jared doesn't react, his eyes are weary and his demeanour droops slightly. He looks as exhausted as Jensen feels. This isn't the time for a confrontation - a proper one, not a rushed conversation in the car two minutes after he got out of jail, or the one they had before Jared left for Texas. Or the one they had when he came back.

"Yeah, well, not everything is about you, Jensen," Jared says.

He rolls his eyes. "You mean you didn't plot to have me thrown into prison? You made it about me."

"I didn't plot against you," Jared responds. "I got dragged into it because I had a moment of weakness. Just one moment and I was stuck."

"You could have told me, Jared. Each day that you didn't, you were just lying to me," Jensen says.

"I could have, but I didn't, because you dragged my family into it," Jared fires back. "The second you paid all of those bills off, you made my position difficult. Danneel threatened me with a lot of things, Jensen, so yeah, I fucked up. You will never know how much I regret that but my back was against the wall." Jensen can buy that. He's seen enough to know just how far the FBI goes when leaning on witnesses.

"Okay, fine whatever. It's done now."

"Exactly," Jared agrees. "So, I'm going to go now. Wish Tyler a happy birthday from me."

~

Jensen finds himself outside of Jared's apartment three hours later. His justification is that Jared can't just show up, drop a damn bomb and disappear just like that. Plus, there's the whole birthday invite thing which he still isn't sure about. He steels his nerves and knocks the door. Loud and clear. There's a lull before he hears the soft sound of footfall. There's another pause before the door swings open and Chad Michael Murray steps out.

"What do you want?" Chad has the temerity to look angry at him despite the fact that _he_ was the one who came between him and Jared in the first place. His stupid plan worked.

Jensen sneers at him. "I'm here to speak to Jared." Chad glances backwards quickly before shrugging. "Well he doesn't want to speak to you."

"I'm surprised that he still deals with you, considering that you got him fired."

"It was never about the job, Jensen, and you know that," Chad replies. "I did it so that he would see that when push comes to the shove, you'd save yourself first. You could have proved me wrong."

"I guess you think that I deserved to end up in the damn clink, too, huh?" Jensen lets his anger fade slowly. Chad isn't worth it. Not by a long shot.

Chad frowns. "I think a month in prison isn't bad when you consider all of the shit you've done. You're not innocent in this, Jensen. You can blame me or Jared however much you want but you're just as culpable. And I'm not going to let you come in and destroy all of Jared's progress."

"Progress?" Jensen queries. "He was fine the last time we talked."

"Was that before or after you told him that you wanted to be just friends and then ignored him from that point on?" Chad replies. "Your little FBI friends threatened him, made him sign all kinds of shit to make sure their little recon mission wasn't made public. And now some asshole that YOU stole from is sending him threats. Your stay in jail lasted a month, but he's been in his own personal prison since you got back to New York."

"Hey, Chad, who is it?" Jared's voice sounds before Jensen can even respond to that and he knows that this is chance to walk away. To keep things the way they are now. Distant. Separate. Lonely.

"It's Jensen," he calls out, ignoring Chad's glare. "I need to talk to you. Alone."

"It's okay, Chad. Let him in."

Chad deflates visibly. "Look, just try not to break his fucking heart again, okay? If you're not over what happened then walk away. Walk away. I'm tired of having to pick up the pieces each time you break his heart. It's been too fucking long." With one last dark look, Chad calls out his goodbye to Jared and shoves past him. Jensen watches as he disappears out of sight. He steps in and shuts the door behind him before following Jared into the living room. Jared beckons toward the couch.

"You want something to drink?" he asks. "Coffee, soda, water...whatever?"

Jensen eyes him warily. "Water would be good." He doesn't sit when Jared vanishes into the kitchen, he takes a look around. It's a nice place. Comfy rather than luxurious but it still looks like something out of a catalogue. There are a few paintings and pictures spread over the room, but the one that catches his eye is the sunset painting hanging over his fireplace. It's his only original painting to date, a favor that he did for Katie when she held a charity auction a few months earlier.

"I had to have the first Jensen Ackles original, it was only fair." Jared's voice startles him and Jensen turns around quickly, face flushes with unexplainable embarrassment. The tell-tale pounding in his chest nullifies any reasoning in his mind. Much like how he felt when he saw Jared earlier, that he has Jensen's painting means something.

"I should have painted something better," he says, because he's seen Jared's work. While they're not anywhere to be seen in this room, they're amazing compared to his crappy sunset.

"I like it," Jared says. "There's something special about the sun setting in the morning or the evening. Anyway. You've probably heard enough about my love for sunsets. Why are you here?" The question is abrupt and short, so unlike Jared that he knows what Chad said is true. There's a reason why he's so closed off.

"Chad said that someone's been threatening you," Jensen replies. "Is that what you came to see Danneel about?" Jared's one of the most harmless people he knows - betrayal aside, and he maybe deserved that - the mere idea notion of somebody threatening him is ludicrous. If it is something to do with him, he deserves to know. The look on Jared's face screams _don't ask me any questions,_ but he doesn't care. He's always had this protective urge when it comes to Jared, and that hasn't changed.

"I don't want to lie to you," Jared begins. "So can we just drop it? I can't talk about it." He looks nervy enough that Jensen almost drops it. He doesn't though, because he knows what a life of white collar crime actually entails. Sure, it might not be as violent as regular crime but people's asses still get capped on a daily basis. Where's there's money to be made, there's lives to be taken. It's that simple. Chad's accusation also bears some weight because he has no reason to lie to Jensen.

"I can't drop it," he remarks. "If something happens to you, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Just sit around, read a damn eulogy and blame myself?" He's being dramatic, but whatever works.

Jared breathes in heavily, exhales just as deeply. "It's not that serious, alright? It's just, some guy. I don't know who it is. The messages all say that "I'm going to pay for what I took or else" and they sent a few suggestive pictures. That's it."

Jensen's blood runs cold.

"Let me see them," he demands, knowing somehow that Jared didn't hand all of this stuff to Danneel. Hell, after his dealings with the FBI, why would he? "Now." His tone leaves no room for argument but Jared steamrolls past it.

"No, Jensen, because this has nothing to do with you," Jared spits out. "I have nothing to do with you, okay? That's just how it is."

Jensen shakes his head. "That's not how it is, Jared. Not for me. Yeah, I needed time to get over everything that happened but we've always been a team. Always. And I'm tired of letting bullshit come between us. What the fuck happened to us?" Jared's silent for a long time. His eyes rake over the sunset painting briefly before he moves away from Jensen completely and takes a seat on the couch. Jensen pretends it doesn't sting as he turns around.

"It's different now, Jensen - it's not the same," Jared announces. "You have a child. An ex-wife. It's just...different. I'm not going to be responsible for ruining it all."

"You know there were four other people plotting away with you," Jensen points out. He doesn't know why he's reassuring Jared, given that he's expressing a sentiment Jensen's thought many times before.

"You weren't fucking any of them on and off for ten years, were you?" Jared tells him. He laughs bitterly. "I'm sure that you were angrier with me than you were with them..." Jensen doesn't argue.

Jared's right.

He was angrier with him. He loved - _loves_ \- him. It was natural. The people you love are the ones that hurt you the most. He's right about Tyler and Lauren too, Jensen can't just act recklessly anymore. There are people depending on him. And Jared's never depended on him, not really. Jensen was never the reliable type.

"Can we just have this conversation now?" Jensen demands. "Just lay it all out once and for all and squash it. I'm tired of waking up each morning and wanting to put all of this shit behind me."

Jared looks like that's the last thing he wants to do, so Jensen joins him on the couch. He's not going to give up that easily.

"It's not a good idea, Jensen. Especially with me leaving soon." Jared's words leave him taken aback but not overly surprised. All it took was a quick phone call to Katie to learn that Jared quit his job at the gallery.

"Where are you going?" he asks, making sure his voice remains passive. "Back home?" Jared's always loved New York but it's never been home. Jensen knows that much. He also knows that home grew too unbearable back when Jared was a kid. He knows that there's a lot of guilt there. He knows that each time Jared got back from Texas, there was always an air of relief about him.

"I don't know, maybe," Jared retorts. "I saw my brother a few months ago. It was totally random, at least I think it was. It's possible that he saw my name somewhere, but he came to the gallery. He said he was sorry and that he wished things were different. He said a whole lot. Most of it was bullshit, but I got it. When you feel caved in, it's natural for you to want to leave, right? He told me that he wasn't surprised that I left too. And he's right? I blamed him and my dad for leaving but I left too. I blamed you for leaving for California but I did the same thing. I left because I wanted a better life."

Jensen is momentarily lost for words.

Part of him wants to find Jared's brother and kick his ass, and part of him wants to swim past all of this because it isn't his business. Both of those parts are overridden by whatever it is he feels for Jared. He wants to comfort him and tell him that it's not the same. For whatever reason, the words refuse to come out.

"Tyler's having a birthday party." That's what he says instead. Jared looks confused for a moment before his eyes change.

"Oh?" He looks just as lost as Jensen feels. "That's...awesome. You must be excited. It's so weird...you having a kid. But I know you're an amazing father." That Jared is so nice even after Jensen just skirted past his whole speech really pisses him off.

"Fuck, Jared, look, seeing you today is just fucking me up, okay? I'm sorry that your brother is an asshole. What he said was bullshit. He wasn't there to see you sending money from your coffee shop job while you studied, or any of the shitty jobs you had after. He didn't send your mom a dime, didn't even look back. You might have left, but he abandoned you. The same way your dad did. There's a difference. You didn’t abandon your family."

"It doesn't feel that way." Jared's voice is soft and laced with shame. The same shame that his stupid brother probably _deservedly_ feels every once in a while.

"When I was in jail, you came to see me. You were there after I left. You didn't abandon _me_. And, honestly, you've got someone here in New York who needs you."

"Who's that?"

"Me."

Jensen kisses him first, slow and uncertain. This wasn't what he had in mind and he is acutely aware of that when Jared responds hesitantly. He pulls back, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"Sorry," they blurt out in unison. Jensen chuckles dryly. Jared huffs breathily. It's easy, being here with Jared. There's a lot of messy emotional facets between them but right now, he wants to push all of that aside.

He wants his friend back.

~

It's the next afternoon when it hits Jensen that talking to Jared actually made him feel good. Even though he babbled on about Tyler for three hours, it was good to just talk with no inhibitions, or without holding his breath for the inevitable judgement. In the end, he left Jared with an invite to the birthday party and asked him to reconsider the job at the gallery. Jared leaving is a prospect that he refuses to think about.

He doesn't want to end up wondering if he's enough for someone to stay.

"Earth to Jensen." Danneel's unimpressed voice cuts into his thoughts, like a knife running through raw meat. Unwelcome. "We don't pay you to day dream on the job. What are your thoughts on these specks of blood?" Jensen rolls his eyes. They're investigating a French businessman who seems to be implicated in a lot of shady art sales. Or they were, until he was murdered the previous night. He looks down at the ground, spots the specks of blood. It all looks fairly standard to him.

"It's a crime scene. Of course there's blood." There's enough sarcasm dripping in his tone that Danneel levels him with a stern look. She opens a standard pocket notebook and writes something down. Once she's done, she looks up and says,

"There wasn't any blood until after the investigators left the crime scene. Jacques Moreau was shot twice in the chest and dumped here. These blood specks weren't here."

"Or maybe the investigators didn't catch it the first time," Jensen point out. "If he was murdered last night, visibility would have been poor."

Danneel shakes her head. "We have eyewitnesses that saw a man in the area. We managed to get a partial sketch." She takes a sheet of paper from her pocket and pulls it out. Jensen looks at it quickly. He hates crime scenes, specifically the ones where people have died. He might be a lot of things, might be a bad person but he still has a heart. He still cares about basic human life.

The man in the sketch has long brown hair covered by a dark, wool hat. The eyes are slanted and lightly shaded. It's a pretty poor sketch but it doesn't take two guesses to realise that Danneel brought him out here for a specific reason. To gage his reaction. She's watching him closely when he looks up.

"What's going on here?" he asks. "This is a sketch of Jared." Any decent lawyer could probably successfully argue against that, but it's still a damning sketch.

"I don't know," Danneel says. "I was hoping that you would. He came to see yesterday about some threats he was receiving, and actually I assumed it was about you. But why would someone falsify evidence?"

Jensen narrows his eyes, realisation finally dawning on him. "To get my attention."

~

Johnny has always been a pain in Jensen’s ass.

However, the man plays fair. Jensen admires that. What he doesn’t admire is Johnny using _Jared_ to get his attention. That’s so far from fair that when he shows up at the designer boutique where Johnny conducts his ‘legit’ business, he’s damn near ready to fight.

“Good afternoon, Ackles, mate,” Johnny says brightly, casting an eye at the shop floor. Jensen glances around. An unsuspecting couple are in the far corner, arguing inaudibly and there are a few businessmen lingering idly. He hears what Johnny’s really saying. _Don’t make a scene here_.

“Johnny,” Jensen shoots back with a curt nod. “You left me a message.”

Johnny cocks a dark eyebrow, and shakes his head. He beckons Jensen towards the back of the shop and they make their way to the small office situated there. Johnny points at the expensive chair in front of his desk and settles in his own seat.

“Before you start, I didn’t know how else to reach you,” Johnny explains. “And then your boyfriend didn’t go to you about the ‘threats’ like he was supposed to. So, me and the boys had to get a little creative.”

Jensen is thrumming with anger but he does his best not to let it show. In the end, his best lets him down and he can’t stop his outburst.

“There are ways to reach me, Johnny,” he almost yells. “And even if there aren’t, leave Jared the fuck alone. He has nothing to do with me. Nothing.” Johnny stares back at him quietly, chewing on ice white gum slowly and methodically. The noise grates on Jensen’s nerves but he doesn’t let his gaze waver.

“Yeah, well, that’s not what he told me,” Johnny replies. “But that’s a story for another time. You’re here now.”

Jensen’s curious to hear what Jared supposedly told Johnny but at the same time, he’s not willing to let anyone else come between them at this point. He might not have a handle of the situation but it’s kind of like an equation, x plus y = them and there’s no room for z.

“What do you want?” For Johnny to go to such lengths, it must be serious, and truly, that’s the only reason why Jensen bothered to show up.

“To warn you,” Johnny says. He leans back and lets out breathy sigh. “You know, I remember warning you about Kane. Something wasn’t right with that bloke. There was something feral about him, and I know that you saw it too.”

Jensen rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, loyalty is for little princesses. We’ve had that discussion before. Get to the point.”

“Chris has been selling you out over the past year,” Johnny says seriously. Jensen’s never seen him look this sombre before and he sits up, dread slowly pooling in his stomach. “He was contacting anyone who might have a grudge against you, offering to work for them or tell them your secrets, blah, blah, blah. No one really paid him much mind until he mentioned Steinmentz Pink, and that got people talking.”

“What are you saying?” Jensen asks, suddenly tired. The damn diamond again. It’s shaping up to be a costly mistake and he’s still not ready to face up to that.

“I’m saying that just because your diamond wasn’t reported missing, it doesn’t mean that there’s no one looking for it. I’m saying that you need to watch your back.”

Jensen’s not an idiot. He knows how vindictive Chris can be, which is why he had a fake copy of the diamond appraised shortly after they parted ways. He’s sure that story has made it around the theft community by now.

“I think I’ll be fine.”

Johnny snorts. “You know, I admire your confidence but if you’re banking on the fake diamond getting you out of this mess, you’re having a laugh. The guy that you stole it from _knows_ that you stole the real deal and he knows _how_ you stole it.”

Suddenly, Jensen’s not so sure that he’s not an idiot.

“So what do you want me to do, run? I can give him back the diamond if he wants,” Jensen retorts. The damn thing is more trouble than it’s worth. Too precious to sell, a constant reminder of one of his best memories.

Maybe it’s time to let it go, finally become a truly honest man.

“It’s gone beyond that, mate,” Johnny says sadly. “This guy’s an unsavoury character. Deals with the black market, fraud, you name it.”

That’s funny. Jensen remembers stealing it from an eccentric, dim business man who took a shine to Jared when he stopped by the Gagosian.

“He gets other people to do his dirty work, and he’s underhand about it, Jensen,” Johnny continues. “You’ve done a good job of quitting the game, but information is out there. Your wife. The kid. It’s not just you anymore.”

“You’re saying that they might be in danger?” Jensen can’t even comprehend the thought of someone harming Tyler. Not for a second. Fuck. “When you say that it’s gone beyond returning it, what do you mean?”

Johnny faces him with a grim expression. “It means that you better have something more to offer him than what you took. Either that or you get the fuck out of town and hope that Chris doesn’t know all of your hide-outs, and even then, he might just find you anyway.”

Jensen exhales deeply. He’s well and truly _fucked_ this time.

~

Just as Jensen expected, Lauren goes overboard with the party. There are clowns, because his vetoes apparently counted for nothing. Exuberant food that Tyler probably can’t eat. The only thing that he actually thinks is appropriate is the giant water slide she erected in her backyard. He doesn’t voice his thoughts, just busies himself with watching Tyler, smiling when he sees that he’s having fun.

That’s all that matters.

His conversation with Johnny is still fresh in his mind, three days after the fact. Working with the FBI means that he has to be careful, but he’s broken his rule in the past few days. Made calls that he shouldn’t have, revived a few burner numbers and emails to verify Johnny’s information.

It’s all true. His card is well and truly marked and all that’s left to do is to wait. The word is that the owner isn’t out for blood, just his diamond and a few jobs. The word isn’t always believable but it’s all he’s got right now.

From his research over the past few days, the owner of the diamond, Mark Pellegrino, is an utterly charming man with a particularly dark background. How Jensen failed to realise just who he was stealing from is a mystery to him. He knows that if he really thinks about it, really takes himself back, he won’t like the answers that he finds.

He won’t want to remember that Chris usually vetted the marks. That Chris set this up.

That Chris betrayed him so badly.

He doesn’t want to think about the fact that Chris sent _Jared_ or the reason behind it.

All he wants to do is enjoy his son’s birthday party. So he does.

~

Jared doesn’t show up at the party and once the guests clear out, Lauren shoos Jensen away, tells him to get some sleep. He hasn’t slept in three days, and he doesn’t think he will tonight either, so he goes to Jared’s apartment. He needs someone to confide in. It can’t be Lauren, not if he ever wants to see Tyler again. Danneel would be risky because of the whole theft thing, and well, Jared’s implicated in all of this.

It would be wrong of Jensen not to tell him.

However, the first thing he does is tell Lauren. Or rather she figures it out after he suggests that she takes that trip to L.A. that she’s been talking about.

“Let me guess, you’re in trouble?” She doesn’t look too surprised, which bothers him slightly but he doesn’t say anything, just nods. There’s no point in arguing over a forgone conclusion. “Anything I can do to help?”

Jensen smiles grimly. “You can leave town. And if you hear from Chris, tell him to fuck off.” She flinches at the mention of Chris but Jensen struggles to find sympathy. Lauren and Chris is something that he tries not to think about. Ever. It’s too weird, and too fucking sad.

“If I hear from him, I’ll do more than that, trust me,” she replies. “Or don’t trust me. Whatever. We’ll be gone in a few days. Keep me posted.”

It says a lot that she’s not arguing and he can’t help being suspicious. He might not be the world’s best father but he _does_ want to have some involvement in his son’s life.

“You’ll bring him back, right?”

Lauren raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, I will. I wouldn’t do that to you. I might not have been the best wife, but…I know how much Tyler means to you. Okay?”

“Okay,” Jensen agrees, though he has no idea what he’s agreeing to. He’s just glad that she’s not fighting him on this.

~

Two weeks after the party, he sees Lauren and Tyler off at the airport. He makes his way back to his apartment slowly. It's like he's frozen in stasis, trapped between a stormy past and an unreachable future. Word is that Pellegrino is due in town tonight and Jensen has a bad feeling about this. Clearly, Pellegrino is after something bigger than the diamond, and that means the danger is greater. And that doesn't even factor in the fact that he's still the FBI's bitch until they deem fit. The thoughts spiralling in his mind stop abruptly when he pulls up outside his complex. He can't describe the emotion that runs through him when he sees Jared sitting on a wall outside the building. There's a duffel bag sprawled at his feet and Jensen cuts the engine, stares for a second.

So much for Texas.

He’s sent Jared a few message here and there, saying that they need to talk but for whatever reason, he hasn’t been able to bring himself to agree on a time and place. A chance meeting with Chad a few days ago and he learned that Jared really was on his way back home.

From the looks of things, he’s taken a detour.

Jared looks at him through the driver’s window and stands. He waits by the main door expectantly, giving Jensen no choice but to leave his car.

“You’re the King of Mixed Messages, you know that, right?” Jared says as he wrings his hands.. “First you need to see me urgently and then you’re AWOL. What gives?”

It’s not that cold outside but Jensen needs the few minutes making their way to his apartment will give him. Not that they’ll be enough. It never is. Time just flies by, without giving a shit about the people its breezing past.

“Chad said you were leaving town,” Jensen says when Jared accepts his offer of a glass of water and seat on his couch. “He made it sound like you were already on a plane.”

Deep down inside, Jensen knows that Jared wouldn’t leave wouldn’t telling him. He’s not like Jensen who breezed in and out of town as he pleased. He didn’t care who he was leaving behind. Or rather he told himself that he wasn’t supposed to care. Feelings didn’t get the job done.

“I got a call from Chris,” Jared tells him. “A few days ago. He said that he’d made a mistake and that I should probably watch my back. Even if I was the kind of guy to skip town without telling his best friend, I definitely wasn’t going anywhere after that.”

Jensen beckons at the bag at Jared’s feet. “What’s with the bag?”

The only explanation that Jared offers is: “All the stuff that’s ended up in Chad’s apartment.”

“What else did Chris say?”

Jared raises an eyebrow. “That Pellegrino was after some form of retribution over the diamond and that he was going to get it from both of us. Said he knew that I had something to do with it. Which is fair, I guess, I did use a working-relationship to help you out.”

Jensen almost snorts at ‘working-relationship’. It’s not something that he’ll ever admit out loud but there’s a reason why he went after the diamond even though he didn’t really need it. No one hired him to steal it, but back then there was a score that needed to be settled. Chris knew that, thought he was being petty.

He knew all about Pellegrino but kept his warning vague and Jared-centric – a sure fire way to make sure that Jensen would go ahead and do it anyway.

_You’re going to regret this, Jensen. Is it really worth it? Over Jared of all people – you have no right to him, and even if you did, you’ve done nothing to deserve it._

“He also told me why you stole it, and why you refused to let go of it.” Jensen’s head shoots up at that. He’s expecting to see disbelief and anger in Jared’s eyes but instead, there’s confusion. “I didn’t have anything with Pellegrino. I mean, not like that. And even if I did…why would you steal his diamond?”

Jensen shrugs, feeling oddly exposed in the face of Jared’s easy demeanour. “You can’t steal something that didn’t belong to that person in the first place.”

“And that the fact that I was talking about leaving to work for him had nothing to do with it?” Jared asks, in a tone that says that he already knows the answer. “You weren’t jealous?”

It feels like all of this happened so long ago but at the same time, Jensen remembers it like it was yesterday. Jared was his ‘in’, but not intentionally. He gave Jensen his invite to the party because it wasn’t his ‘scene’, but he was genuinely considering the job offer Pellegrino made. It was selfish, to want to someone to always be there but that’s what Jensen wanted.

He couldn’t imagine coming back to New York and finding that Jared was just _gone_.

So maybe the diamond represents the first time he got an inkling that there was something about Jared that made him different from everyone else.

Maybe it does.

It doesn’t matter anymore.

“You were jealous.” It’s not a question this time and Jensen doesn’t deny it. There’s no point.

Jared nods, more to himself than Jensen. “Okay, so, what do we do now? What exactly does Pellegrino want from us?”

“There’s no _we_ here, Jared,” he insists. “I would feel a lot better if you left town.” Jared’s not like him, not rough around the edges and cut out for a double life. Jensen’s not going to stand by and drag Jared down with him.

“It’s always been you and me,” Jared replies. “And hey, I got you thrown into jail, didn’t I? I owe you one. You can agree or disagree but I know Pellegrino better than you do. At the gallery, the managers didn’t care about his other business dealings, so long as they got a good deal out of it, but they made sure that they knew who they were dealing with. And guess who did all of the legwork?”

Jensen stares at him. “You were never going to take that job, were you?”

“I helped you steal a diamond from his _house_?” Jared points out. “You really need me to answer that?”

~

It’s just like old times.

They drink to their fate, though Jared’s kind of blasé about the whole matter and Jensen wonders if this is some kind of self-sacrifice to make up for all that’s happened.

He wonders but he doesn’t ask.

He kisses Jared, leans in further when Jared responds and things progress from there. It’s frantic, fumbling, perfect and imperfect at the same time.

It feels like it’s been a long time coming; like things would be _okay_ if he could draw a circle around them, cut it out and store it somewhere safe. Somewhere no one could touch them.

Instead, they’re stuck here, warm bodies pressed together as they contemplate their fate.

“You should meet Tyler.” The words fall out of his mouth abruptly when he realises that Jared’s never met his, not really.

Jared’s response is slurred, “What?” Jensen sits up, catches his eye and shrugs gently.

“When this is over you should meet Tyler. It’s kind of long overdue for him to be meeting Daddy’s dorky best friend, but…there’s always time, right?” Maybe Jensen’s being a tad presumptuous but he can’t focus on what ifs. Nor if he wants to see this job through.

“What are you saying?” Jared asks, his voice much clearer now.

Jensen bites at his lip nervously and steels himself. “I’m saying that I forgive you, for what happened and I still love you. Maybe we can finally give this – _us_ – shot. Without any outside interference this time.”

Jared watches him quietly for a moment as he contemplates Jensen’s words. After a few seconds he nods and replies, “I’d like that. And…I’d love to meet Tyler.” Those little three words aren’t going to come but Jensen would be an idiot if he didn’t already know that Jared was in love with him.

Right now all that matters is that they’re on the same page.

And three days later, when Jensen gets a text from an Unknown Number, with a simple item listed, he shows it to Jared who immediately pulls a face and says, “The Wright Brothers’ Patent? Hasn’t it been missing for well over ten years? We’re screwed.”

The use of _we’re_ sends a silly tingle down his spine, and he fights to keep his emotions in check. Jared’s been surprisingly easy-going about all of this and Jen sen doesn’t want to rock the boat, not until he needs to.

Considering that Jensen had no idea what the item was, he starts to think that maybe Jared helping him isn’t such a bad idea after all.

It beats being alone.

**Fin**

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I plan on doing one last full length story in this verse, so be on the lookout for that :)
> 
> Steinmentz Pink: http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonydemarco/2014/03/01/the-83-million-pink-diamond-default/  
> The Wright Brothers' Patent: http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/where-is-the-wright-brothers-patent-114299664/?no-ist


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